A month in the Vendée Globe with Fabrice Amedeo
It's already been a month since Fabrice Amedeo left Les Sables d'Olonne. After catching up with the older boats, he is now waiting for optimal weather conditions to join the competitors at the head of the race.
fourth week / #4SEMAINEDUVDG
Focus on the race
At the head of the fleet, Charlie Dalin is still in first place, followed by Louis Burton and Thomas Ruyant. The skipper of Apivia was the first to round the Cape of Good Hope on Monday night, while the rescue operation for Kevin Escoffier was underway. The IMOCA PRB literally folded in two as she was making headway in 3rd position. After spending 11 hours in his life raft, Kevin Escoffier was miraculously rescued by Jean Le Cam. Yesterday, Sébastien Simon and Samantha Davies announced that they had collided with UFOs, one on the starboard foil, the other on the keel. The two boats are now heading north at reduced speed to find calmer conditions so that repairs can be carried out. The last few days have been particularly trying for the Vendée Globe skippers. In addition to the hostile conditions that plague the sailors as they enter the roaring forties, there has been anguish and warnings. Sailing in the stormy waters of the Deep South is no picnic.
At the beginning of the week, Fabrice had "missed the train".
He had seen his friend Cali Boissières' group, on which he had made good progress, take off with a low-pressure system that he was unable to hook onto. It all came down to a few dozen miles.
"I've taken back 200 miles from them in the last few days, and they're going to give me another 500. To be honest, yesterday I was in despair at this new door closing in front of me. But today, how can I not marvel at the colors offered to me by the St. Helena High? The weather is mild. The boat is slipping. I've taken it for granted. The point of this Vendée Globe is not to fulfill my initial ambitions. It's to finish building myself as a man: learning patience, learning to deal with deep frustration."
Our navigator no longer looks at the ranking, which sends him back to short time, frustration and the desire to have everything right away. He looks at the 360° horizon and has put away his competitor's foulies for a while.
- Friday, December 04, 2020
Wednesday, December 2, our navigator's battle
Protected by the St. Helena High, the last protective shield before the first southern low and the great slide of the Southern Ocean.
"All these weather doors that have been closing in front of me for the last three weeks, the luck that's still not turning: but what does the ocean have in store for me in the South? Kevin's accident. The collisions with UFOs and fishing gear for Jérémie, Alex, Sébastien and Samantha. We are witnessing the consequences of our devastating capitalism and the peril to our planet."
Our navigator has established that there are more and more things hanging around in the water and threatening us.
On Thursday, December 3, Fabrice Amedeo was making 12 knots heading southeast.
The St. Helena High, which had blocked the first competitors last week, is now slowing down the tail end of the fleet. After a calm night, Fabrice accelerated and took advantage of the pleasant sailing conditions ahead of his first southern depression. "It's going to speed up towards South Africa," explained the skipper by telephone.
In the last 48 hours, Fabrice has probably missed an opportunity to move further south to be in a better position in relation to the low-pressure area, to move faster ahead of the front. The weather files weren't very accurate. Conditions are expected to be rough but manageable for the passage around the Cape of Good Hope in a few days' time.
"I was really worried about potentially 40 knots upwind along the ice zone. But I'll be sailing downwind in a steady wind," Fabrice reassures us. I'm looking forward to what's to come. But all this has to be taken with a pinch of salt, because the weather files over here are much less precise than back home. I already had this feeling 4 years ago, and it's happening again this year: they help me analyze what's happening to me, but they don't necessarily tell me exactly what I need to do and where I need to go."
Fabrice Amedeo is currently awaiting a life-saving depression.
As of tomorrow, our navigator is expecting milder weather conditions. He's making the most of these moments:
"The lights here are magical. It's a kind of timeless space marked by calm and stillness. I think I move faster in my head than on the water!"
These slow moments allow our skipper to take stock and refocus on the essentials before the southern seas.
"I think there's nothing more beautiful than making your dreams come true, but there's something childlike about dreams: a certain refusal of reality. At the start of this Vendée Globe, reality has hit me in the face, and I think I'm in the process of letting go of my initial ambitions and accepting this new reality. In the end, this situation gives me a unique opportunity to do and live my Vendée Globe without the pressure of results. Just for me and for you, with whom I'll be sharing it. To live this great adventure and grow as a human being."